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US-SYRIA-CONFLICT-EU
Take back jihadists, Trump tells Europe
WASHINGTON, Feb 17, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – European nations must take back
hundreds of Islamic State group fighters captured in Syria, President Donald
Trump said late Saturday, after a delay in announcing what he said would be
the end of the “caliphate.”
Trump shocked allies in December by declaring the pullout of roughly 2,000
US troops who had been assisting local forces in Syria against IS, whose sole
remaining territory is half a square kilometer (one-fifth of a square mile)
in eastern Syria.
The pending US pullout set off a countdown for governments whose citizens,
having joined IS, were captured by the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian
Democratic Forces (SDF).
“The United States is asking Britain, France, Germany and other European
allies to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that we captured in Syria and put
them on trial,” Trump said in a tweet, using another acronym for IS.
“The Caliphate is ready to fall. The alternative is not a good one in that
we will be forced to release them. The U.S. does not want to watch as these
ISIS fighters permeate Europe, which is where they are expected to go.”
Once the US-led coalition declares it has taken all IS territories, the
White House is expected to withdraw American troops.
When that happens, the risk is high that “foreign terrorist fighters” will
escape SDF control, posing a new threat.
For about two weeks, the Trump administration has been pushing its allies
to take their citizens home, and the US said it was ready to help in the
repatriation, but time has been running out.
Several countries, including France, that have chosen to leave the
jihadists in SDF detention now confront a diplomatic, legal, political and
logistical puzzle.
“We do so much, and spend so much – Time for others to step up and do the
job that they are so capable of doing. We are pulling back after 100%
Caliphate victory!” Trump said in his late-Saturday tweets.
On Friday he said announcements on the fall of the caliphate would be made
“over the next 24 hours,” but that deadline came and went.
– Deep transatlantic rift –
An SDF commander said his US-backed forces slowed their advance to protect
civilians.
The jihadists declared a “caliphate” in large parts of Syria and
neighboring Iraq in 2014, but have since lost all but a tiny patch of
territory near the Iraqi border.
Trump’s Syria pullout has highlighted the deep trans-Atlantic rift that
emerged under his presidency, and the differing views of the two sides were
on display Saturday at a security conference in Munich.
A French government source criticized the Trump administration’s approach
as “we’re leaving, you’re staying” and added: “They’re trying to manage the
consequences of a hasty decision and making us carry the responsibility.”
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1407 hrs